Audible Is Now Available to Canadians! #YouGottaHearThis

I’ve got big news to share with my fellow Canadian bibliophiles… Audible is now available to Canadians!

We can now access the best in spoken word content from Canada and around the world on the new Audible.ca site for Canadian consumers, using Canadian dollars.

What is Audible?

Audible is the world’s largest producer of digital audiobooks. They offer the world’s largest library of audiobooks, plus original audio shows and audio subscriptions to your favourite magazines and newspapers.

Why Audiobooks?

As a voracious reader, you might wonder why you should listen to an audiobook as opposed to reading a book for yourself.

Don’t get me wrong. I love reading, whether books or ebooks, but there are lots of situations that call for an audiobook instead. Audiobooks are perfect for:

Long car rides and road trips

Commuting to work

Working out

Crafting/knitting

Doing housework or doing the dishes

Bedtime

Breastfeeding

Whenever your hands are busy, but your mind is unoccupied

Audiobooks are great for a ferry ride!

For my very first audiobook from Audible.ca, I picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone from the incomparable J.K. Rowling and narrated by Jim Dale. With 45 minutes a day of driving to and from school (almost two hours on karate class days), I had lots of time to listen. I wasn’t sure if the kids would be that interested, but they loved it. An unexpected bonus was less whining and fighting in the car, as they listened to the story instead!

I also took advantage of a fantastic promotion going on at Audible Canada right now. I don’t know how long this offer is good for, but Audible members are currently eligible to receive a free copy of The Handmaid’s Tale Special Edition by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The special extended edition is read by actress Claire Danes and includes about 15 minutes of brand new material, a new Afterword read by Atwood herself, and an essay about the book from author Valerie Martin (Mary Reilly, Property).

I loved reading The Handmaid’s Tale years ago, and like most of the people I know, looked forward to each new episode of the recent Hulu TV series (airing on Bravo in Canada). I thought it would take me a while to get used to hearing the story instead of reading it, but it really didn’t take long to get pulled into the story. I have the Audible app on my phone so I can listen whenever I have a few free minutes.

If you already buy ebooks, the process of setting up an account and downloading audio books to your device is very similar. You can browse the Audible store, download samples, buy audio books, and add them to your device all within the app. I found the app intuitive to use and similar to my Kindle app (not surprising, since they’re both Amazon companies).

You can search audiobooks by title, author, or narrator, or you can browse for your next book by genre category, best seller status, or new releases. Audible also has an elegantly simple-to-use wish list feature and tracks your listening stats. You can even earn achievement badges like Social Butterfly (by posting status updates), Night Owl (by listening for at least 4 hours at night), and 7-Day Stretch (kinda self-explanatory).

You can try Audible.ca for free for 30 days with a free audiobook of your choice. You can then purchase additional audiobooks without a membership, or join for $14.95 a month (we get price parity with the US site!) with one free credit every month good for any audiobook. Members also get 30% off additional audiobooks, unlimited listening to Audible Channels, a Great Listen Guarantee return policy, and more!

What are you waiting for? Go check out Audible.ca. Your first book is free!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored conversation. All opinions expressed are completely honest and my own, based on my personal experience. Your experience may differ.

OH that is awesome! I need to try this out. I have in fact read the book before and have become addicted to the new show The Handmaid’s Tale. But I am pretty far behind on it right now. This is perfect for road trips.

I’m so happy that Amazon.ca has finally brought Audible to their because for years I’ve had to go through Amazon.com which ends up costing me more money because credit cards charge a fee when I buy anything in US funds, so now I can save some money because audio books are expensive but I love doing them anyway.

If you are interested to try some Canadian audiobooks outside of Audible I invite you to check out Rattling Books. We have a small but fine catalogue of Canadian audiobooks produced in Newfoundland and Labrador. Our fiction authors include Lisa Moore and Mavis Gallant. Our hundred year old outdoor adventure includes Lure of the Labrador Wild, The Last Voyage of the Karluk and an early first hand account of the offshore seal hunt called Vikings of the Ice. We also have poetry by Michael Crummey and Don McKay among others and a very special children’s Christmas story performed by a five year old. The True Meaning of Crumbfest was an Earphones Award winner with the US magazine Audiofile, as were several of our titles. Vikings of the Ice was shortlisted for an Audie. All to say that while Audible is large large large a small Canadian company like ours can still produce work that is fine fine fine. We have listening samples of some works on Sound Cloud and you can purchase downloads at the following link: https://sellfy.com/rattlingbooksaudiobooks

Welcome! I'm a social worker, wife, and mom to two little girls living on the beautiful West Coast of Canada. Join me as I talk about family life, natural parenting, paleo/allergy-friendly recipes, and living life a little greener. I love sharing my finds too, so stay tuned for great reviews and giveaways!